‘The people of SA need dagga‚’ say activists as legalisation case postponed

31 August 2016 - 15:13 By Philani Nombembe And Taigh Connelly

South Africa’s democracy is incomplete if dagga users still have to look over their shoulders when puffing on their favourite substance 22 years after the country attained its freedom. Citizens would be healthier and the economy would boom if the government legalised the plant.These were sentiments shared by dagga activists outside the Cape Town High Court on Wednesday after their high hopes of convincing judges that sections of Drugs and Drugs Trafficking Act are unconstitutional were crushed – temporarily.A full bench of the court postponed the case‚ brought by Garreth Prince‚ a Rastafarian‚ and Jeremy Acton‚ the leader of the Dagga Party of South Africa‚ until December 13. This is to allow government departments to respond to a criminologist’s report that was handed to court in the morning.The activists are also asking the court to order the Director of Public Prosecutions to stop the prosecution of dagga users. They want the Department of Correctional Services to release prisoners serving time for dagga-related crimes‚ pending the outcome of the litigation. The ministers of justice‚ health‚ police‚ and trade and industry have been cited as respondents in the matter.The court action was lodged in the 2013. It was prompted by Prince’s arrest for possession and dealing in dagga about four years ago. He said his prosecution and that of other dagga users have been stayed pending the outcomes of their challenge to the drugs legislation.“South Africa is now a country of democracy‚ which means that the freedoms of all the citizens in this country are guaranteed‚” said Prince outside the court.“We are saying that because the usage of dagga is an indigenous cultural practice‚ the law must respect that. So we have come here to challenge the criminal laws in respect of cannabis and we are saying that these are immoral in principle and they are unworkable in practice. They do not belong in contemporary South Africa.”Prince praised the dagga plant. He said there is a lot that South Africa can benefit from the plant if it is legalised.“It is cultural‚ it’s economical‚ it’s medicinal‚ the people of South Africa need cannabis. Not just Rastafarians‚ the whole of South Africa. It is a way to get us out of poverty‚ unemployment and then disease that is chocking our country. So we need the herb for the freedom of our people.”Although they would have loved the case to be speedily resolved‚ Prince and other activists’ spirits were not dampened. They vowed to wait however long it takes. A group of bare-footed Rastafarians who had filled the public gallery in anticipation of heated legal arguments burst into song and dance outside the court. They brandished placards and called on the justice system to “remove the Roman laws”.“We have waited 93 years for this law to come right. We can wait six more weeks‚ even though the sword of democracy is hanging over our heads and the police are arresting our brothers and sisters even though they know that we are having a Constitutional Court application but this is still happening. For the next six weeks or two months‚ the police will still continue to arrest them even though they know what is happening here. So we are calling on the director of public prosecutions to have a sense of justice‚” said Prince.A similar action by Johannesburg couple Julian Stobbs and Myrtle Clarke in the Pretoria High Court is still pending. – TMG Digital/The Times..

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